Portable battery powered electronic systems are presently being extensively utilized in a wide range of applications. For example, such systems are being employed in mobile radiotelephone communication sets, portable personal computers, portable camera equipment and the like. In each, the electronic equipment comprising the overall system is controllably put into operation by electric current supplied from an electro-mechanical storage media (battery).
A current industry trend is towards the use of removable and rechargeable batteries or battery packs. In order to avoid an equipment failure, however, it is crucial that the system operator be provided an indication of how long the electronic system can further be put into operation by an existing battery. Moreover, since batteries tend to discharge over extended periods of non-use, it is crucial that each battery powered electronic system comprise a battery-discharge-indicating arrangement to provide the system operator with an indication of the remaining battery capacity for batteries which have not been in use for a period of time.